Magnetar

@asin 

which model did you purchase?

Cleeds is correct, the Panasonics are not universal players.

As I mentioned in the OP, the UI for the Magneton looks so much like the Oppo it begs the question as to whether they just purchased the platform from Oppo

Sony refused to make their players compatible with DVD-A for the longest time, only relenting after DVD-A began to die as a format.  I have a Pioneer Elite that plays Blu Ray, DVD and SACD but it was discontinued years ago.  It also does a DSD to PCM conversion for SACD

I will be interested in the feedback.

@mijostyn can you comment on SACD, DVD-A, or Blu Ray Audio on this player?  What DAC are you using?

So in my 2 channel system I program my Oppo 105 to output DSD from SACD.  Since the Magnetar OS looked identical to Oppo, I am assuming this is the same.  I then output the DSD over HDMI into the HDMI input of my Bryston DAC3.  In a different system I output DSD from SACD using an Oppo 203 into the HDMI of an Anthem AVR

@arnold_h 

thanks for the input.  Your point about the different chips for the surround domain intrigues me.  Do they use a separate chip for each channel?  Or one chip for two vs another for multichannel?

The surround channels are less important, mainly for ambience and movie effects like helicopters flying, so one could justify using a lesser chip in those channels, but it seems chintzy to do so, especially considering that this is not a budget player 

Perhaps.

I listen primarily to Classical.  Most labels that specialize in multichannel use surrounds for ambience.  The rears try to emulate the reflections that one might experience in the concert hall from walls, seats and ceiling behind the listener.  There is at least one German based label-Tacet- that says the heck with that, and plunks the listener in the middle of the orchestra or chamber ensemble.  For a Tacet disc, I would want the same chip in all channels 

The comments about Magnetar having the involvement of former Oppo engineers is very telling.  The set up menus for the two brands are just two similar to me to be explained by coincidence.

  Could you expound a bit more on your last paragraph?